By Joe Barrett 
   Of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

3M Co. (MMM) Chairman and Chief Executive George W. Buckley said he expects the economic recession to reach its bottom late in the second quarter or early in the third. He said he expects Asia, particularly China, to help lead the world out of the recession and that Europe's recovery would lag behind other parts of the world by a quarter or two.

(This story and related background material will be available on The Wall Street Journal Web site, WSJ.com.)

In a conference call with investors, Buckley said the company's business in April is running at a pace similar to that of March.

The Minnesota-based diversified manufacturing company also told investors that a change in options-recording rules had hurt its first-quarter results by 4 cents a share. The company said it had announced the change in the past but that some analysts may not have included the change in their models for the quarter. The company reported first-quarter earnings per share excluding restructuring charges of 81 cents.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of 86 cents.